Therapist and client experiences of art therapy in relation to psychosis: a thematic analysis

Background: Evidenced-based theory of art therapy for people experiencing psychosis is relatively under-developed, especially in terms of the detail of what happens in art therapy sessions, and the role of the artmaking.

Aims: To explore in-session processes of art therapy from the viewpoint of both service users and art therapists using reflexive thematic analysis.

Method: Twelve participants, six service users and six art therapists, were interviewed.

Results: From the analysis, four main themes were created, specifically ‘safe space’, ‘power of artmaking’, ‘challenges’ and ‘supporting recovery’.

Conclusions: The findings offer triangulated themes from art therapists and service users and explicate the role of the artmaking. Artmaking offers service users a space to express and contain their feelings, needs, wishes and fears within the artwork. This can start a dialogue and provides them with an opportunity to shift how they view their artwork and themselves.

Practice implications: Artmaking helps service users express non-verbal and embodied material, which could then be explored through a therapeutic dialogue. Service users who struggle with verbalising their thoughts and feelings may particularly benefit from art therapy.